
Class 
BooL 



.1.5 



CopyiiglitK^: 



COPHRIGHT DEPOSai 



FAR COUNTRIES 
AS SEEN BY A BOY 



FAR COUNTRIES 

AS SEEN BY 
A BOY 

By M. BEECHER LONGYEAR 

ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS 
AND WITH PEN AND INK SKETCHES 



/ 



\V/' 



PAUL ELDER AND COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS • SAN FRANCISCO 






Copyright, /pi6 

By Paul Elder and Company 

San Francisco 




DEC -2 1916 
'CI.A446669 



To ALL Good American Boys — 
AND Girls Too. 

JVouldrit you like to join our 

trip around the world by reading this book? 

It will prove a short cut to the history of some nations^ and 

give you an idea of how things over there 

look, today, to a boy. 



Contents 

Page 

A Visit to Hawaii 3 

Japan, the Land of "Little" 

Things 13 

Filipino Youngsters ..... 27 

The Hill City of Hong Kong . . 2^ 

Peking, Four Cities in One ... 52 

A Long Trip TO the Ming Tombs . . 61 

Touring in Ceylon . . , . . 74 

India, Letter One 91 

India, Letter Two . . . . . . loi 

India, Letter Three 115 

Egypt, Letter One 124 

Egypt, Letter Two 156 



[vl 



Illustrations 

FACING 
PAGE 

India — ^Jaipur. Street Scene {Frontispiece) 

San Francisco to Honolulu. Fancy Diving .... 4 

Hawaii — Honolulu. A Cocoanut Picnic g 

Hawaii — Honolulu. No Fences and Much Fruit ... 8 

Japan — ^The Human Race 14 

Japan — Kioto. Chionin Temple; Very Japanesey. . . 18 

Japan — Kioto. A Small Gate Out of Town 22 

Japan — Kioto. Coming From Church 22 

The Philippines — Manila. Awfully Interested in Old 

Church and Wall 28 

The Philippines— Olongapo. Old Spanish Gate and Cari- 
boo Gait 2g 

The Philippines— Subig. A Summer Resort All the Year 

Around -2 

The Philippines— Subig. A Fashionable Promenade . . 32 

China — Hong Kong. Ready to Drink It All In . , . 36 
China — Canton, Twelve Miles of Roofs with Streets 

Under Them .q 

China — Hong Kong. Tough Roads for An Auto ... 40 

China — Shanghai. Chinese Junk. (You Bet!) ... 44 

China — Canton. Old Gate on Wall 44 

China — ^New Shanghai. Pagoda, 2000 Years Old ... 48 

China — ^Peking. Going to Ancestral Worship .... 52 

China — ^Peking. Ancestral Church 56 

China— Peking. The Altar of the Temple of Heaven . s(> 

China — Strange Beasts Afield 62 

China — En Route for Ming Tombs 62 

China — Mingville. "Let Us Pray" SS 

China — Mingville. Mausoleum of Ming the Great. Jug 

Maker 55 

China— The Real Wall yo 

China— A Cold Day When We Left the Wall .... 70 

Ceylon — Colombo. Galle Face Hotel 74 

Ceylon — Colombo. A Street Chat 74 

Ceylon — Colombo. Seen from a Distance 78 

Ceylon — Colombo. A Noisy Neighbor 78 

Ceylon — ^Anuradhapura. A Real Live Dagoba ... 82 

[VII] 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING 
PAGE 

Ceylon — ^Anuradhapura. Puzzle: Find the Relic Inside . 82 

Ceylon — Kandy. Temple of the Sacred Tooth ... 86 
Ceylon — ^Anuradhapura. Mahinda Brought Buddhism Up 

Here to Ceylon's Ruler 86 

India — Madura. Gopuram — Down the Street .... 92 

India — Madura. Temple Tank, of Golden Lilies . . 92 

India — Madura. Sacred Tank and Temple 96 

India — Benares. Early Morning Ride to See the Ghats 96 

India — Benares. One of Fifty Ghats 102 

India — Benares. Priest and Worshipped Gods . . . 102 

India — Fatehpur-Sikri. Akbar's Tomb 106 

India — Fatehpur-Sikri. One House in This Empty Town . 106 

India — Kutab. Our Sheik Guide no 

India — ^Agra. The Famous Taj Mahal 116 

India — ^Taj Mahal's Builder — Shah Jahan 116 

India — Mt, Abur. Starting for a Race Up the Mountain 

Twenty Miles 120 

Egypt — ^Sak Kara. Going Over the Desert to See the 

Sights 124 

Egypt — Denderah. Ibrahim Giving a Call to Show Us 

Cleopatra On the Wall 128 

Egypt — ^Luxor. Karnak By Moonlight; Very Romantic . 132 

Egypt — Esneh. Ibrahim Showing Off By a Curfew Tower 136 

Egypt — Kom Ombo. The Crocodile God 140 

Egypt — ^Assouan. Trying a Desert Aeroplane .... 144 
Egypt — ^Luxor. Bible Lesson. The Children of Israel 

Made These Granaries in the Time of Moses . . . 148 

Egypt — ^Luxor. It Was the King's Pavilion Long Ago . 152 

Egypt — ^Abydos. Copt School. Teaching from the Bible . 156 
Egypt — Luxor. Queen Hatasu Built This Temple. It Is 

Great 160 

Egypt — Ghizeh. Mysterious But Very Plain .... 164 
Egypt — Statues of Memnon. This Is the Sight or Old 

Thebes 164 

Egypt — Our Steamer Prince Abbus — On to Earis. Good- 

Bye 168 



[ VIII ] 



FAR COUNTRIES 
AS SEEN BY A BOY 



■'^■^Cis^ 




Chapter I. 
A VISIT TO HAWAII. 

AT SEA, STEAMSHIP "MONGOLIA**, 
SEPTEMBER 20TH 

Bear Bradford: 

You remember that you shouted to me 
as we left the dock at San Francisco: 
'Write me some real live geography, up 
to date and first hand/' Well, here goes. 

[3I 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

Our first stop was at Honolulu, and I 
know a lot more than I did yesterday 
about the Sandwich Islands — as they used 
to be called. They were discovered by 
Captain Cook years ago, but now are 
called Hawaii. 

I have seen ladies at home that I 
thought were much decorated with huge 
bouquets of flowers, but in Honolulu they 
make chains of them of all brilliant colors, 
and both men and women wear them as 
wreaths, or hung about their necks; at 
least the natives did who met our steamer, 
caUing out, *'Aloha! Aloha!'* They 
offered me so many that I was surprised 
to think that they knew I was coming and 
I had four of all different colors about my 
neck, when father interfered and paid 
up, twenty-five cents apiece. He re- 
marked then, that perhaps it might be 
just as well if I kept a little more in the 
background and didn't try to play the 
part of advance courier. 

For once in my life I was interested in 
history when I heard the folks talking 
about the islands. It seems that many 
years ago one big man of the native tribes, 
Kamehameha the Great, thought he 

(4l 




San Francisco to Honolulu 
Fancy Diving 



A VISIT TO HAWAII 

would like to be ruler of all the islands 
around there, so he gathered a big army 
and fought those who did not want him 
to rule over them. At the first battle 
Kamehameha's men drove their enemies 
to the edge of a steep precipice, and three 
thousand of them were forced over this 
cliff on to the rocks a thousand feet below. 
That is easy to remember, but not very 
pleasant. After that, all the islands, 
about seven or eight, were under one rule. 
Then came the Presbyterian missionaries, 
and they built a church and college. All 
this happened over sixty years ago. I 
heard them say that the rich people of 
California used to send their children here 
to be educated, and I rather think those 
children loved it. Why, they could play 
baseball all the year round, and the beach 
is the finest I have ever seen. The boys 
must have a jolly time surf riding. All 
you need to do is to get a good-sized iron- 
ing board and run into the breakers with 
it, and when a big wave comes rolling in, 
lie down flat on the board, and then 1 
don't know exactly what happens, but it 
seems like a volcano of soap suds and you 
are somewhere in it, and after you have 
[7I 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

had a few such experiences you ride back 
to the shore on the waves standing up on 
the board. 

Then those children had such good 
things, and plenty of them, to eat — ba- 
nanas growing beside the road and no 
fence between, delicious fresh pineapples, 
figs and dates. The guavas that we buy 
as jelly, at home, grow wild on the moun- 
tains and in the valleys. I can imagine 
that those boys learned from the natives 
how to shinny up the great bare telegraph 
poles of the cocoanut palms, but I was 
much disappointed in the taste of the 
young cocoanut. We were all invited to 
a home beside Waikiki beach, and a serv- 
ant knocked down four cocoanuts from 
the trees in front of the house. We each 
had a whole cocoanut, which was opened 
with a pick, and we were expected to like 
the milk to drink, but we didn*t, although 
we tried to be polite and took a sip or two 
of the mawkish stuff and nibbled at the 
tough, milky, soft-looking white brick. 
Mother's excuse was that she had already 
eaten ''so much of the delicious alligator 
pear and fresh cocoanut cake'* at luncheon 
that she really had no appetite, while 
[8] 




Hawaii 

Honolulu. A Cocoanut Picnic 

Honolulu. No Fences and Much Fruit 



A VISIT TO HAWAII 

father looked serious, and said he thought 
he could cultivate a taste for it in time. 
I couldn't be persuaded to taste a tama- 
rind when I saw mother's face just after 
she had taken a good mouthful. Father 
said *'it had a real, lasting sour." 

A lady of rather dark complexion passed 
by in an automobile, and we had seen 
the former Queen Lili. While the folks 
were talking about her, I thought I heard 
them say that when the women of the 
United States could vbte they are going, 
to give her over $8000 a year to pay up 
for taking the island away from her. 
Some Americans thought that unless the 
U. S. A. took this step the queen might 
execute saucy Americans who had sugar 
and pineapple business there; I think 
the United States did a good thing and 
made a good bargain, although it was 
rather one-sided. 

Well, I thought I knew a fish when I 
saw one, but in a house on the beach they 
have something to make you guess, '^Bird, 
fish or fowl." They are all colors and 
shapes, and some are almost invisible. 
They look like birds and pigs and queer 
creepy things. Mother raved over the 
[II] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

colors and ''texture," but Td like to know 
how they'd taste fried! 

Only one more thing to add to this 
long geography lesson — they slice up 
rainbows here and hang a piece in each 
valley, sometimes one over another. Big 
mountains are all around, and Uncle Sam 
has made a great fortification in the mid- 
dle of one of them. 

rU write you again from Japan. Who 
beat in the last school baseball game? 

Your loving cousin, 

BEECH. 



[I2j 




'■ -.Kv \T 






)l..U'. ^_^,.^ 




Chapter II. 
JAPAN, THE LAND OF "LITTLE" THINGS 

AT SEA, 
OCTOBER I7TH 

Dear cousin Bradford: 

Everybody is writing as fast as they 
can today about our four days* trip in 
Japan before they forget their * Vivid im- 
pressions of that wonderful little isle and 

[13I 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

its wonderful little people/' We knew 
by the quantity of fans, teacups, lamp 
shades and "old prints'* we had seen in 
our stores at home, what to expect. 
Mother gave your mother a choice old 
print last Christmas of a fierce looking 
warrior sitting on the ground with his 
legs stuck out, showing his teeth, and 
flourishing a stick around his head. 
Those prints are very artistic, I have 
heard tell, and can teach us a lot about 
"balance and rhythm," if one cares for 
that sort of thing. I hoped Fd see an 
old duffer like it, but I didn't. 

We landed at Yokohama, and a Japan- 
ese courier dressed in a gray Mother Hub- 
bard and a derby hat came on board and 
looked us up. Father had cabled him to 
meet us. He was so quiet and watchful 
that he had our twenty-seven pieces of 
"luggage," as the English say, in the 
tender before I had time to get a very 
vivid impression of the whole scene; but 
when the boat reached the pier you should 
have seen the bare-legged, short- trousered 
Japs with their funny little baby car- 
riages, shouting and yelling for passen- 
gers. The guide called up five of the 
I14] 




Japan 

The Human Race 



JAPAN, THE LAND OF "LITTLE" THINGS 

' ' baby carriages* * — * rickshaws — and we 
each got into one, and away they scam- 
pered between the thills without any har- 
ness on. I wondered how long father 
could go on without tipping over. I ex- 
pected to see the little *'rickey man/' as 
they call these men ponies, go kiting over 
his head, but to my great disappointment 
nothing happened of that sort. Mother 
told me afterwards that it was due to the 
laws of "balance" which they learned 
from their old prints. We started right 
out — ^without even going to a hotel to 
wash up — to learn about their religion. 
Let me give you a pointer — don't try to 
understand everything about it, if you 
ever come here, for you won't have time 
to think of anything else. Just remem- 
ber what I write you about it, and then 
you will not need to bother your head 
about it. We were hustled right on to a 
train, and in about an hour we landed at 
Kamakura, and started off to see the 
sights, and judging from the specimens 
we saw, religion is more to them than a 
baseball game. Now if they would only 
employ the rickey men to amuse the 
tourists by a good game of ball, or a race 
I17] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

with tourists in the rickeys, it would be 
worth going to Japan to see the fun. 

The first religion we were introduced 
to was the Shinto. It was the first new 
one I had ever met, so I think I gave it too 
much attention. Now when I see a red- 
decorated, parallel bar-like thing in front 
of flights and flights of steps, with cocked 
hat roofs at the top, I know that is a 
Shinto church or temple. Oh, yes, one 
other thing, there must be two other 
things — funny dogs or fierce warriors 
made of bronze, somewhere around, and 
one must have its mouth open and one 
have its mouth shut, meaning, "don't 
jabber all the time and keep your mouth 
shut when you're thinking." 

Mother asked the guide many ques- 
tions, and I gathered that the Shintos 
were born fighters, that they just loved 
their old warriors who fought for their 
country; that they thought if they did 
right, they needn't pray to anybody, so 
they had no idols, but a looking glass. 
They have a great lay-out of colored 
buildings and a sacred dancing floor. 

Then we were shown another religion. 
I don't see why they make so much of 

[18] 



M ^ 




JAPAN. THE LAND OF "LITTLE" THINGS 

their old-time 'things, for they themselves 
don't seem to go to the temples as much 
as the tourists do. This was called the 
Buddhist religion. The temple was enor- 
mous, and just at the entrance was a huge 
idol. I couldn't tell whether it was 
meant for a man or a woman. It was 
* 'serenity itself," mother said, ' 'smiling 
with almond eyes half closed on this busy 
world." I believe I would rather be a 
Buddhist than a Shinto. All they have 
to do to get into heaven is to love their 
grandparents and repeat the name of 
Buddha 10,000,000 times and sit down 
cross-legged while they are doing it. I 
thought this because I was tired walking 
up so many steps; now that I am rested 
I think Vd rather try the Shinto and keep 
my mouth open half the time and shut the 
other half, and have a little fun fighting. 
After going through miles of streets with 
little houses on each side and little panes 
of rice paper for their windows — every- 
thing in Japan seems "little" — ^we stopped 
suddenly with a great flourish; you 
wouldn't believe it, perhaps, but there 
away up in the sky with a big gold head 
on him, was Buddha itself. It scared 

[21] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

me stiff. It looked like the dome of the 
state house in Boston, with nose, eyes 
and mouth, and it wasn't a little body, 
either. I got up close to mother and 
whispered, "Is it alive?'' She under- 
stood me and didn't laugh. "No, dear," 
she said, "it is a type of serenity, and al- 
though we call it an idol we can learn 
something from the thought of its majesty 
and immutable calm." I was so sleepy 
going home that I nearly fell out of my 
rickey, trying to think it all out. 

The next day we went by train to 
Kioto. We passed hundreds of thatched 
mud houses. Many iris plants grow on 
the ridge poles of these houses which 
must liven them up in the spring. I 
really got tired seeing such an army of 
workers. They all seem to dress alike, 
but the women generally wear earrings. 
I never saw so many babies in my life, 
and they were like those queer floppy 
little Japanese dolls sister used to have, 
and they are hung on the backs of all the 
living ancestors — the little brothers and 
sisters, the grandfather and mother. The 
mothers, too, carry thern when they are 
at work in the fields. 

[22] 



Ljsp 1 


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iti^ ^,^^^^^rL" "■ " ■ ''t ^^^ l|^ -,«,«■■ ..".'.'.'.'.'-' nn 


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^^, '-'."^^E^HHP 











Japan 

Kioto. A Small Gate Out of Town 
Kioto. Coming from Church 



JAPAN, THE LAND OF "LITTLE" THINGS 

We saw the great white-covered moun- 
tain, Fujiyama, in the sky, as the clouds 
parted and then I went to sleep. We got 
to Kioto in the evening and climbed a 
steep hill to reach our hotel. We had to 
have a pusher behind our rickeys. All 
the next day we were in the shops; some 
day I may like to see and buy old Sat- 
suma, but now it does seem a bore. We 
went on to Kobe the next day and got 
our boat. Japan is, after all, worth 
going to see. You see rice growing, little 
oranges on trees, mulberries to feed the 
silk worms, and you see little people with 
little wooden stilts on their feet on 
muddy days; you hear nothing but the 
quick patter, patter, of their little wooden 
shoes, in the cities. They never jabber 
or sing, and the babies have no yell in 
them. They are all dark, with black 
eyes and hair. They seem like human 
ants. I never heard a laugh once in 
Japan, excepting at a theatre where they 
sat on the floor in little square places with 
their little tea tables by them. The play 
showed how an American woman would 
quiet her baby — by shaking it up, and 
tossing it up, and singing at the top of 
I25] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

her voice at the same time. Then the 
audience laughed quietly. I see that 
they think we are queer, too. I never 
thought of that before. When you have 
seen Japan, you will be more thankful 
than ever that you live in America, and 
do not have to go around the streets with 
the babies of the family strapped on your 
back. 

Look up on the map and see where we 
went through the inland sea to Nagasaki. 
IVe got a red turtle drum like the one the 
priests beat in the temple to make 
Buddha listen to them. Mother bought 
it for me in an antique shop because I 
didn't "fuss" at going shopping. 

Off now for the Philippines. 

Your loving cousin, 

BEECH. 



[26] 




crwir^ 





Chapter III. 
FILIPINO YOUNGSTERS. 

CHINA SEA, 
OCTOBER 26th 

My dear Bradford: 

1 CAN only write you a short letter this 
time, as I haven't much to say or much 
time to say it in. The Philippines, as 
you know, belong to America. The 
[27] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

Spanish used to own them, but some few 
years ago when we went to war with 
Spain to help Cuba get her Hberty, Ad- 
miral Dewey chanced upon the Philip- 
pines; he heard some firing and thinking 
that maybe some Cubans were there and 
getting hurt he joined in the fray. When 
the Spanish warships saw the stars and 
stripes, they scattered their ships and 
sank them themselves and went down 
with them, and Admiral Dewey was 
forced to hand the U. S. A. a nice little 
group of islands. The U. S. A. didn't 
want them, and Dewey didn't want them, 
so then they sent Taf t over and he peace- 
fully took possession. The Filipinos 
didn't like it, and Spain didn't like it. 
But what else could he do? 

This is history. We Americans ought 
to be proud of our country when we see 
how superior we are to the Filipinos. We 
have just put up a most magnificent 
hotel in Manila, built like an old Spanish 
palace. There are tile bathrooms. The 
''help" in this big hotel are all little dark- 
skinned Filipinos, with their white shirts 
worn outside their white trousers. They 
are all barefooted. The stately Ameri- 

[28] 




The Philippines 

Manila. Awtully Interested in Old Church and Wall 

Olongapo. Old Spanish Gate and Cariboo Gait 



FILIPINO YOUNGSTERS 



can officers act like Spanish grandees. 
They never, never smile or say "Thank 
you" or tip the * 'stupids,'* as they call 
them. They expect them to understand 
English by instinct and frown at them 
until the poor little natives lose what wits 
they have. But really and truly, the 
Americans are treating the natives kindly, 
teaching them to hustle and run the 
lawn mower and work in the hot sun, 
and to spend their money on moving 
picture shows. They are showing them 
a lot of new tricks; one store we were in 
has little holes in the floor, and instead 
of heat coming up, a cold blast nearly 
lifts you off your feet. Mother looked 
as though she had on a hoop skirt when 
she got over one. Manila is a flat city, 
walls and all that sort of thing, but the 
''Americans will make it more convenient, 
if less artistic soon," father said. The 
funniest sight is to see the water buffalo 
or caribou harnessed to a cart and 
driven by a half -naked Filipino. These 
animals have a skin that dries and cracks 
if it doesn't wallow in mud every day. 
It has great horns and can't bear the 
smell of an American. Not caring to 

[313 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

be hooked, I always kept to the leeward 
when I saw one coming. 

We went to a Filipino school taught 
by an American. He didn*t need to 
teach them politeness as it is natural to 
them. The youngsters seemed a bright 
lot, anxious and quick to learn, but the 
teacher didn't make a remarkable show- 
ing on that score. They sang a song 
called "Jolly Boys Are We," and by the 
way they looked they must have thought 
it a kind of dirge. They had a lot of 
baskets, lace and embroidery they had 
made, and we bought some to take home 
as there is no duty on that work. The 
*'boys" as they are called, take the best 
care of the houses. The beds are covered 
with mosquito netting to keep out the 
flies. They furnish good food, buy it and 
cook it; they write a beautiful letter in 
English, and keep all the accounts — as 
well as a game rooster for Sunday service. 
They are clean, even in their native cities. 
Some one said that the "United States 
officers were afraid to smile at them for 
fear they would not respect them.'' I 
quietly grinned at the ''boys" sometimes 
and they did the same. 
[32] 




The Philippines 

SuBiG. A Summer Resort All the Year Around 

SuBiG. A Fashionable Promenade 



FILIPINO YOUNGSTERS 

The Bilibid prison at Manila is the most 
interesting place I ever saw. The Ameri- 
cans have made it a show place. Let 
me see if I can explain it to you. Think 
of a wheel, a guard house high up on the 
hub, along the spokes stone buildings for 
prisons, then in the space between the 
buildings men marching in perfect order 
to the music of a prison band. At the 
first strain of 'The Star Spangled Ban- 
ner" every cap came off, and I confess 
to something in my throat as I listened to 
that splendid music and thought of the 
words, "And this be our motto, in God 
be our trust," and I felt sure that God 
was leading all His children to love each 
other. They make lovely furniture and 
silver things at the prison. 

Yours as ever, 

BEECH. 



I35l 



<£s. 








.^_.^ V IV 



Chapter IV. 
THE HILL CITY OF HONG KONG. 

AT SEA, 
NOVEMBER 8tH 

Dear cousin Bradford: 

JVIy letters are always dated at sea 
because on the land we are too busy 
sightseeing to do anything else. Well, 
now travel is getting to be some fun for a 
[36] 




Hong Kong. 



China 
Ready To Drink It All In 



THE HILL CITY OF HONG KONG 

boy. Of course it is improving to one's 
mind, and it is a fine way to learn geog- 
raphy and history; but it is a little tire- 
some to have to keep so tidy and clean 
all the time. We aren't allowed to com- 
plain about the weather or to grumble 
at the kind of food we have, or to stuff 
ourselves when we like anything specially 
well, or even to say, "I'm hot," or "I'm 
cold." We are all glad when we leave 
the ship and get our thoughts fastened 
on something else besides ourselves. 

My, but Hong Kong is a beauty! We 
came into the harbor at night, and it 
looked as if a tall tree with candles all 
burning rose out of the water before us 
specially for the occasion. The harbor 
was filled with a lot of queer vessels all 
lighted up, and the sky was glittering 
with stars. As it was only a few steps 
we walked to our hotel. The next morn- 
ing I was up early and out on our bal- 
cony, and found that Hong Kong is built 
on a great hill. Only tiers and tiers of 
roofs, one on top of another, were to be 
seen. I found out at breakfast that 
Hong Kong belongs to England, and I 
knew that they owned the hotel, for we 

[39I 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

had no fruit for breakfast, but we did 
have porridge, finnan haddie, chicken 
livers, cold mutton and rhubarb. 

We attended service at a nice little 
Christian church that is built up on the 
rock; and how do you suppose w^e got 
there? Not exactly carried in arms by a 
Chinese nurse, but almost the next thing 
to it, for we were each put into a chair 
and carried on the shoulders of two very 
lightly clothed Chinese men. They 
walked straight up the hill without stop- 
ping once. It seemed so good to hear 
the old hymns once more in a church and 
to think that away off here. Truth, like 
a star, was glowing in the darkness. In 
the afternoon we went to the top of the 
hill and saw a great panorama of the city 
and harbor, with its long enclosing arm 
of hills. Hong Kong means "good har- 
bor'* or **fair haven." 

You have heard of Canton ginger and 
Canton flannel and Canton china, but 
when we went to Canton we found the 
people making many more things. We 
had a guide and rode in a long procession 
of chairs, with our courier ahead, through 
the narrowest streets imaginable. The 
[40] 




China 

Canton. Twelve Miles of Roofs With Streets Under Thpm 

HoNO KoNQ. Tough Roads for an Auto 



THE HILL CITY OF HONG KONG 

Chinaman loves a noise, and every chair- 
man loudly proclaimed that the great 
mogul from America had arrived with his 
family. There were little shops with big 
men stripped to the waist, working at all 
trades with their pigs and chickens 
around them. Swarms of children, led 
by women who wear trousers and a short 
coat and green earrings, almost blocked 
our way. As far down the street as you 
could see were hung signs in red and gold. 
Their religion is founded on ancestor 
worship and the roofs of their temples are 
covered with great dragons and filled 
with images of their ancestors, called 
gods. One had as many as 500 images 
in it. They never really let their ances- 
tors go; they make paper money and food 
and clothes and think they send these 
things to them by burning them in their 
temples. The Chinese dislike to have 
their heads cut off, for they do not want 
to disgrace their ancestors by meeting 
them with their heads in their hands. 
They take specially good care of the old 
folks. They are Buddhists like the Jap- 
anese, but no Shintoism for them; they 
don't want to fight anything, not even 

[43] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

dirt. They are so full of business in 
Canton that they don't seem to have 
time to think of anything else. We saw 
them making silk, red and black lacquer 
boxes, carving ivory and making hat pins 
out of birds' feathers. All their shops 
are little and dark. When I began to 
get hungry, I wondered where in that 
wilderness of smelly shops and crowds 
of Chinos we could ever find anything to 
eat, but, after a little, our guide stopped 
at an ivory shop — the only one in town 
that had a door — and we had "tiffin," 
English for lunch. In the Philippines 
they call it "chow." I do not believe 
that half the children in Canton ever saw 
green grass or a tree, but they are up to 
mischief like other boys, for I got a stone 
flung at me and a slap from a gibbering 
little rascal who demanded "cunshaw" 
which means present, but our coolies 
rushed along too fast for me even to pull 
his pigtail. 

The next morning we went back to 
Hong Kong and took the boat to Shang- 
hai. It is a three days' trip. I don't 
see how a fellow can get much idea of the 
Chinese when the English build the 
[44] 




China 

Shanghai, Chinese Junk. (You Bet!) 
Canton. Old Gate on Wall 



THE HILL CITY OF HONG KONG 

hotels and boulevards and banks, run 
automobiles and have race courses all 
around their cities. We left Shanghai 
the same night for Nanking and on our 
train, in our compartment, were two 
learned Chinese, known as such by their 
long-pointed finger nails. They wore 
glasses. We were soon given another 
compartment by ourselves. 

It was rather scary walking in the dark 
over the worn pavements of Nanking to 
a little Chinese hotel kept by an English 
woman, but we had a good supper and 
made a bluff at sleeping with forty kinds 
of noises going on in the streets all night. 
In the morning mother and father took 
'rickshaws to the boat, but the rest of us 
walked through much filth and dirt to 
the little river steamer which was to take 
us up the Yangtse Kiang. We were glad 
enough to get into a quiet, clean place 
with plenty of good food and fruit to eat. 
The color of the river is a tinge between 
pea puree and strained pumpkin. I was 
glad when we got to Hankow. The 
Chinese always encourage each other 
when they work by shouting and grunt- 
ing, and when they are loading or un- 
[47] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

loading a steamer they make a racket 
for sure. We had to grin and bear the 
weather, for it poured for two days and 
was awfully cold; but the captain won 
our hearts because he had an American 
coal stove set up in the center cabin for 
our comfort. Sometimes we would all 
get desperate for fresh air and would 
rush out in the rain and gladly get back 
again to the coal stove and dry clothes, 
listening to the most terrible tales of the 
fighting which went on at Hankow last 
year. 

It was a happy moment when our train, 
which goes only once a week, pulled out 
from Hankow to take us to Peking. It 
was cold, though, and our compartments 
were like little narrow cells until the 
steam came on, and we had a fine meal 
in a splendid sleeping car. Then to our 
satisfaction we found that we could re- 
main in this car between whiles. Fine 
looking men, something like our Indians, 
were working in the fields. But where 
were all the women? It seemed a world 
of men and they were all dressed in long 
blue aprons and fur-lined coats ; and as an 
evidence of civilization, many wore yel- 
[48 1 




New Shanghai. 



China 
Pagoda, 



aooo Years Old 



THE HILL CITY OF HONG KONG 

low automobile goggles when driving 
their little pony carts in the fields. I 
don't feel yet that I've got into China 
and hope that my letter from Peking 
will give you some history. 



Sincerely, 



BEECH. 



isn 




TIT ^^p« 

Chapter V. 
PEKING, FOUR CITIES IN ONE. 

s. s. "fentuno**, 

NOVEMBER lOTH 

Dear Bradford: 

1 GOT your letter at Peking and was 
mighty glad to hear all the news about 
all the games and what the boys are 
doing. You ask me to tell you more 




China 
Peking. Going to Ancestral Worship 



PEKING. FOUR CITIES IN ONE 

about the real geography and history of 
the countries I pass through. Now you 
see a fellow can't grasp everything, and you 
might better look up in your geography 
and follow me around. My, but China 
is a great country! 

Where do you think I am writing this? 
In a snug little English boat that we took 
at Tientsin to go back to Shanghai from 
Peking, The wind and the tide seemed 
to interfere with our plan and we are 
stranded on mud flats for goodness knows 
how long, so I'll have time to tell you 
about our banner trip to Peking. We 
did so much sightseeing there we didn't 
have time to peek in a shop, although 
mother wanted to buy a bamboo bird cage. 

When the train pulled into Peking at 
4 o'clock in the afternoon, I wasn't pre- 
pared to see anything wonderful, and 
when I found myself going like mad in a 
'rickshaw with the rest of our party and 
about a thousand other 'rickshaws through 
a great archway in an immense wall, I 
got a thrill. Such a racket you never 
heard ; then suddenly we came to a broad 
quiet street with large fine houses on each 
side enclosed in high walls. In one I 

[5Sl 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

saw Old Glory flying, and I took off my 
hat and cheered. Those houses belong 
to the legations of different nations. As 
usual, the coolies made a rumpus about 
their pay, when we reached the hotel. 
That's because dad gives them too much 
and they want to squeeze a little more out 
of him. We went to the Wagons Lits 
hotel — that means ''Sleeping Car." It 
belongs to the railroad company. It was 
cheering to hear the steam leaking out of 
the radiators in our bedrooms, for you 
see we had come from the tropics, where 
we wore thin white clothes all the time, 
and took a bath every day, and now we 
had jumped into winter. At Hankow 
mother bought me heavy boots, thick 
stockings, a sweater and fur-lined gloves. 
We had reason to be happy to find such 
a warm hotel and plenty of hot water for 
bathing. The next day was Sunday and 
we all bundled up to go to the * 'Temple 
of Heaven," which I supposed was a 
church. I thought maybe Fd see a lot 
of Chinese men dressed up in those gor- 
geous robes mother likes to buy, playing 
on harps, perhaps, and heavenly blue 
tiles on all the floors. Well, we got a 
[56 




China 

Peking. Ancestral Church 

Peking. The Altar of the Temple of Heaven 



PEKING. FOUR CITIES IN ONE 

guide and our 'rickshaws and we went 
inside the great wall through the Chinese 
City over a pavement not less than 2500 
years old. We saw thousands of men 
with long blue nightshirts on and black 
pigtails hanging down their backs, and 
once in a great while a Chinese woman 
in a 'rickshaw, with her face painted 
white and her cheeks and lips red, and a 
big black headdress with flowers stuck 
in it. Nobody looked at her, and she 
only opened her eyelids a tiny bit and 
looked straight ahead at nothing. 

I was afraid we would be late for 
church, as the way was so long. At last 
we reached a peaked roof entrance and 
tumbled out. Then we started to walk, 
and we did walk, through groves, through 
gateways, through little temples and so 
on. At last we stood alone on a high 
place and the guide told us that this was 
the ''Temple of Heaven," much to my 
surprise. Everybody raved about it, but 
I was a little disappointed because no one 
else was there. 

I like Peking. It is four cities in one, 
and each one is walled, and then there is 
one great wall around them all. The 

[59] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

*' Forbidden City" is near the station, and 
all you can see of it are roofs covered with 
yellow tiles. No visitors are allowed 
there. The republic has given this city 
to the little boy Emperor whose kingdom 
has been taken away from him. He and 
the imperialists can stay shut up there 
as long as they wish. Then there is the 
Tartar City,, and inside of it the Imperial 
City, and the fourth part is called the 
Chinese City. It is a Chinese puzzle for 
sure. They are great on pagodas, too. 
I almost forgot to say a word about them. 
When they wish to do something very 
sacred, they build a cocked hat Tower of 
Babel. Sometimes these towers are seven 
stories high and there is a priest on each 
floor. They make good barracks for the 
soldiers now. They have a temple of 
agriculture where the United States sol- 
diers had their barracks ten years ago. 

The Chinese are responsible for giving 
to the world the torture of written ex- 
aminations. They had a great building 
where thousands took them at once, but 
it was destroyed. 

Good-bye, 

BEECH. 
[6ol 




Chapter VI. 
A LONG TRIP TO THE MING TOMBS. 

NOVEMBER lOTH 

Dear cousin Bradford: 

At last we are off the mud flats and 
bounding like a rubber ball over the 
Yellow Sea. This boat is a little one, 
so they put up great sails to steady her. 
I61I 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

I mailed my history^ letter yesterday, and 
will finish up our Peking trip. I do like 
the Chinamen, they seem so dignified and 
patient, they are such workers and they 
aren't too painfully clean. I thought 
they were cruel to their women, but when 
I learned that the Chinese women have a 
tongue like a whip lash, and that men 
are so ver>^ much afraid of them that 
they bind their feet so that they cannot 
run after them and berate them, I thought 
the men were pretty smart. I hear that 
they have given their women the vote 
since China has become a republic, and 
that Chinese women may now be as free 
as the ''walkovers'* will allow. I think 
that squeezed-in feet are prettier than 
squeezed-in waists, anyhow. 

WTien I first heard of the Ming dynasty 
and that we were to have a trip across 
the countr>^ to the Ming tombs, it was a 
change from the everlasting dragon 
churches, and I was ready for new sensa- 
tions. We had a ver>^ intelligent guide 
and his name is Kowlatze. He put on 
six suits to make the trip, so we were pre- 
pared for some freeze. We started early 
in the morning and went over a fine rail- 
[62] 




China 

Strakge Beasts Afield 

En Route for Ming Tombs 



A LONG TRIP TO THE MING TOMBS 

road made by the Chinese engineers and 
coolies to Nanking. There we had *' tif- 
fin*' in a cute little Chinese hotel. We 
were each given a tiny little room and in 
each a tiny little coal stove was going 
full blast. Everything was clean and we 
enjoyed the regulation French breakfast. 
Then came a ride of 22 miles. Mother 
and father were each carried in a chair 
on the shoulders of four big coolies. Til 
show you a picture of them when I come 
home. Robert and I had a little pony 
apiece, and we were bundled up in 
numerous capes and shawls. 

The guide rode a donkey padded out 
on each side, and a man ran beside us 
all the way. We started off across a 
country, bleak and bare, over a narrow, 
rocky trail, up hill and down, nothing in 
sight but the quiet hills and sometimes 
a bunch of donkeys carrying loads five 
times as big as themselves, looking like 
walking straw stacks. We trotted on, 
but I guess the bareback riders didn't 
have as comfortable a time. It seemed 
very perilous from a distance. Every 
300 steps, the coolies who carried the 
chair would jerk and stop and change the 
[65] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

pole to the other shoulder even if they 
were going up a steep narrow place. 
They had to cross running streams on 
slippery stepping stones, but father and 
mother are old stagers now and they 
keep stiff upper lips. 

In about an hour and a half we reached 
a sort of gateway of five arches right out 
in the open. The guide said that it was 
"most imposing," but it wasn't to me. 
It was carved all over with serpents and 
dragons, and was somewhere in its thou- 
sandth year. ''Why,'* said mother, as 
she came bouncing up from a sudden jolt, 
"are we there already?'' "No, madam," 
said our guide. "AUee beginnee here; 
five millee more." 

It seems when Ming was alive he built 
his own tomb and made this archway to 
call attention to the fact. The avenue 
leading to the tomb is of marble and five 
miles long, and guarding the way are 
colossal marble animals 12 feet high, 
arranged in pairs — two camels standing 
and at a little distance two more kneeling; 
then dogs and then a procession of im- 
mense marble men, and they have all 
been standing for ages in that solitary 
[66] 




China 
MiNGViLLE. "Let Us Pray" 
MiNGvitLE. Mausoleum of Ming the Great. Jug Makeh 



A LONG TRIP TO THE MING TOMBS 

country without any friends or admirers. 
It must be lonesome enough. What Mr. 
Ming meant by it all I didn't find out. 

On and on we rode over a lop-sided 
pavement and marble bridges until we 
saw at the foot of some mountains that 
looked for all the world like the dragons 
they have on the churches, little red and 
yellow tiled roofed settlements dotted 
around. I thought they were villages, 
but they proved to be the tombs of the 
emperors. When we reached the en- 
trance to the largest one and were told 
that it was Yong Lo's tomb, I thought it 
was time to find out for sure what the 
Ming dynasty was anyway, for we had 
started out to see the Ming tombs and 
the only one we had time to see was 
Yong Lo's. So it was explained to me 
that it was like going to see the tombs of 
the Hanoverian rulers in England; we 
should find there the tombs of George 
the Third, William and Mary, Queen 
Victoria and others. The Ming dynasty 
means the emperors of one period. They 
were a very intelligent, art-loving set of 
rulers; they encouraged the making of 
beautiful pottery and beautiful temples. 
[69I 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

Art lovers of all countries search for Ming 
things for all their museums. 

When we came out again at the en- 
trance we had a cup of tea and some 
cakes at a rough little table and then we 
started for our hotel. It was already- 
getting dark, the sun soon set and the 
paper lanterns were lit on the chairs. 
The cold nipped; at last — ages it seemed 
— we heard the welcome sound of the 
engine whistle and were soon warm and 
happy. 

The next morning we were up at five 
o'clock to take a construction train on 
our way to see the famous Wall of China. 
The Chinese seem to love to make walls 
that crawl all over the mountainsides; 
but railroads are taking the place of walls 
now and instead of keeping in, they are 
finding how to get out. We walked up 
the Nankow pass, rough and stony, and 
the wind seemed to stick pins into us as 
we scudded along to get under the shelter 
of that big stone wall — the greatest won- 
der in the world, all built because the 
Chinese were afraid. It is so long that 
no one has ever been around it. There 
are little stations near together on the 
[70I 









China 

The Real Wall 

A Cold Day When We Left the Wall 



A LONG TRIP TO THE MING TOMBS 

top, but it is falling to pieces. We 
couldn't do much but try to find the 
warm corners and stare and wonder. We 
saw a caravan of camels come through 
the gateway into Mongolia, carrying their 
heads high, and taking high velvety steps. 
Mother says that China's glory is yet 
to come, that her people will win out 
against greed and envy; she loves peace, 
she has patience and tremendous strength; 
her love of color, art and design are even 
now far ahead of our understanding. To 
the grown-ups the greatest thing in China 
is its china. Mother says that a vase 
can tell a story of their ideals of beauty, 
of their most sacred thought and of the 
wonderful insight they had into the laws 
of color, harmony and design. (She 
wrote this, and I copied it.) 

Goodbye to China and to you, 

BEECH. 



I73l 




Chapter VII. 
TOURING IN CEYLON. 

AT SEA, 
DECEMBER i8tH 

Bear Bradford: 

At last the day arrived for us to leave 
Colombo and to take the train for the 
interior of Ceylon. As usual we were 
taken to the station in 'rickshaws. 
[74I 




Ceylon 

Colombo. Galle Face Hotel 

Colombo. A Street Chat 



TOURING IN CEYLON 

A *'boy** had been engaged to go with 
us there and through India. He was a 
high class Singalese with his comb and 
drapery all complete; and he was small, 
as most of the inhabitants of Colombo 
are, but he had a very important and 
masterly air and kept beggars and low 
caste men out of our way. As he had 
such an unpronounceable name he wished 
to be called ''Charlie,*' and he called me 
''Master,'* the same as he did Daddy. 
He paid our bills and gave small tips 
when necessary. When we whirled out 
of Colombo to go back into a past of 
2500 years, my thoughts whirled, too, as 
I tried to imagine the glories of the holy 
city of Anuradhapura at that time. Stars 
were out when we arrived at the station, 
and I could see the mysterious dagobas 
or hills and water tanks all around. Then 
we got into a funny little bullock cart and 
were jolted over the stony roads to our 
"rest house*' where we were to have din- 
ner. The pilgrims used to have rest 
houses instead of hotels, so the one- 
storied buildings are still called rest 
houses. We found the rooms comfort- 
able and the dinner like all the others — 

[77] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

soup, fish, meat cakes, chicken, rice and 
curry, pumpkin and potatoes, pudding, 
fruit and coffee. You can always find 
something on the list that tastes good. 

The next day we took an automobile 
and a guide to see the sights. We didn't 
get an early start, for the usual rule in 
hot countries is to have tea, bread and 
jam sent to the bedrooms at 7 o'clock 
then breakfast at 9; so I had time to 
read over those questions and answers 
mother had written out for her own bene- 
fit as well as mine, so we would know 
something about the people and the 
things they built and why they built 
them. 

Who was Tissa the Good? 

He was the King of Sinhala, as Ceylon 
was then called, 309 B. C, and he sent to 
Emperor Asoka of India, whom he had 
never met, some wonderful jewels by 
four ambassadors, to show him what 
treasures were to be found in his king- 
dom. Asoka sent back "chrowrie" (royal 
fly flappers), golden slippers, sandalwood, 
one hundred and sixty loads of hill 
paddy, rice and many other things, and 
the most important of all, a letter telling 

[78I 




Ceylon 

Colombo. Seen from a Distance 

Colombo. A Noisy Neighbor 



TOURING IN CEYLON 

Tissa about his god called Buddha, his 
doctrines, etc. Tissa lived in Anura- 
dahpura. 

Who was Mahinda? 

He was the son of Emperor Asoka of 
India, a Buddhist monk, who was sent 
with four other priests to the great Tissa 
to convert him to Buddhism. 

What is Mihintale? 

It is the name of a rocky hill whose 
summit is reached by many hundreds of 
ancient steps. A dense forest surrounds 
it. 

Where did Mahinda meet Tissa the 
Good? 

On the top of Mihintale. Tissa had been 
hunting when he came upon Mahinda 
and the four priests sitting peacefully on 
the top of this mountain. He sat down 
to listen to the story they told of Buddha, 
and then and there became converted and 
had all his country turn Buddhists, and all 
good Singalese call themselves Buddhists 
today. 

What is a Pirivena? 

It was a school building for young 
monks who were supported by the peo- 
ple. 

[8il 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

What is a Dagoba? 

It is a dome-shaped temple of solid 
masonry containing a relic of Buddha or 
of a disciple. 

Who was Saghamitta and what did she 
bring to the sacred city of Anuradhapura? 

She was the sister of Mahinda and 
daughter of Asoka, Emperor of India. 
She came to the holy city to bring a 
branch of the sacred Bo-tree to Tissa. 

What is the sacred Bo-tree? 

It is the oldest historical tree in exis- 
tence. It was brought to Anuradah- 
pura 240 B. C. and it is a branch of the 
tree Buddha sat under when he meditated 
and thought out the system of Budd- 
hism. 

Who was Dutthagamini? 

He was one of Sinhala*s most famous 
kings, and is what George Washington is 
to us. All the youngsters in Ceylon 
know his story. He lived about 100 
years after Tissa the Great. He is called 
Duttha — undutiful — because he would 
not promise to let the Tamils (a foreign 
tribe) stay, as his father wished him, in 
Anuradhapura. He was handsome, ath- 
letic, and brave. He had a splendid 
[8a] 



J^m^ 




Ceylon 

Anuradhapura. a Real Live Dagoba 

Anuradhapura. Puzzle: Find the Relic Inside 



TOURING IN CEYLON 

army of his own. One day when he was 
sixteen years old he asked his father "to 
let him drive out the Tamils." His 
father was so anxious for his beloved son 
that he would not give him permission. 
So the disappointed boy sent his father 
the message that ''if he were a man he 
would let him drive out an enemy." The 
father was angry, and ordered a gold 
chain to be made to bind the boy, but the 
boy ran away. He became sole ruler of 
Sinhala 161 B. C, the greatest of all the 
builders and a strong Buddhist. He 
built Ruwanweli Dagoba and seven piri- 
venas and many water tanks, and the 
''Brazen Palace." 

We went first to see the sacred Bo- 
tree. I am sending you a picture of it. 
It looks like a poplar, and is in an enclo- 
sure walled round with brick. Daddy 
didn't have any change, so he gave the 
priest a dollar, and he gave us leaves of 
the tree, blessed us and let us take his 
photograph. The priests were dressed in 
yellow and had ashes on their heads. 
Then we saw the oldest rock temple in 
Ceylon, built by Tissa, with a stone 
Buddha in it. All that remains of the 
[85I 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

Brazen Palace are a lot of oblong stones 
tumbling over each other. It was once 
a grand school, all covered with gold 
and furnished with elegance. We passed 
it in the auto. The greatest dagoba 
which Tissa built is the Thuparama. It 
was built 300 B. C. and still stands sur- 
rounded by its classic columns, the **most 
elegant of all dagobas,"so the guide book 
says. Then we saw the dagoba built by 
Dutthagamini, called Ruwanweli. It is 
made of solid brick. It has many trea- 
sures inside. 

After lunch we had a fine spin over a 
grand road, through jungles filled with 
ruins. There were Buddhas in stone 
sitting in meditation by the wayside, and 
coolies working hard at excavating an- 
other ruined city, Morea. We did have a 
fine time at Mihintale. Look at the 
flights of steps we went up, and there 
were two other flights besides. We saw 
a regular priest city on top away up in 
the air. It was on this hill that Budd- 
hism was first preached to Ceylon, and 
it was Mahinda's home in rainy weather. 
There was his bed of big rocks, and a 
great water tank. But I got tired of 
[86] 




Akuradhapura. 



Ceylon 
Kandy. Temple of the Sacred Tooth 
Mahinda Brought Buddhism Up Here to Ceylon's Ruler 



TOURING IN CEYLON 

dagobas and I guess you have, too. The 
next day we just took a look at one more 
dagoba, the highest of all — 400 feet high 
and 1150 around. We had a fine ride 
all the morning over splendid roads, 
through the jungle, with lots of bright 
colored birds flying about singing, and 
monkeys chattering and grinning at us 
from the trees. 

At noon we reached a rest house and 
started out at once to see the famous 
Sigiriya (Lion) rock. We climbed up 
and up, passing troops of noisy monkeys, 
and before we got to the top we were 
soaked through with the rain, and the 
wind was blowing strongly. But we 
didn't mind anything, because we were 
bound to see how King Kasyapa lived up 
on the top of this mountain centuries ago. 
No enemy could ever have dislodged him 
if he had stayed at home. He had a 
rock throne, a large audience chamber 
painted with gay colors, large water 
tanks, trees and gardens. The next day 
we had a spicy ride through cinnamon 
groves, tea and coffee plantations, cocoa 
trees, cloves and nutmegs, and rubber 
plantations. Kandy is a fine mountain 
[89] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

city with a fine hotel, and many Euro- 
peans go there for its cHmate. They 
make many silver things here and mother 
bought an antique necklace and some old 
Portuguese jewelry. 

One of our trips was to the caves of 
Dambulla high up in the mountains; they 
are painted all over with historical scenes 
in red and yellow oil paint, as bright as 
if they had just been done. King Wala- 
gamba, who took refuge here when he 
was an exile, had a figure of Buddha lying 
down, cut out of the solid rock. It is 
forty-seven feet long, and there are hun- 
dreds of others sitting around meditating. 
The priests are so anxious to get a little 
cash for themselves that they are a great 
bother. 

The next day we were glad to take the 
train for Colombo and pack our trunks 
for India. 

Your loving cousin, 

BEECH. 



[90 




Chapter VIII. 
INDIA, LETTER ONE. 



AT SEA, 



JANUARY 6th 

My dear Bradford: 

We have said goodbye to India and 
are on a big steamer headed for Port 
Said with five days more before we land, 
so I must write you something of what I 

[91] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

learned of that great country — a job that 
seems ahnost as big as the country itself. 
We learned some history there. They 
say that India was settled by Japhet and 
his sons, so you see that it is a genuine 
antique. In olden times the Great Mo- 
gul, as the ruler was called, loaded his 
clothing with rubies, diamonds, and other 
precious stones, and hung ropes of pearls 
around his neck. He and the lesser 
rulers lived in splendor, and for amuse- 
ment used to tight each other and take 
away each other's treasures. Things 
went on like this for many years, when 
Alexander the Great appeared on the 
scene in 327 B. C. Then there was a 
great battle with Porus. It was the first 
time the Greeks had ever seen such sky 
scrapers as elephants, but they shot at 
their legs with their arrows, and the ele- 
phants turned and trampled down their 
own army, and Alexander conquered the 
northern part of India. Later in the 
game, the Portuguese came in for plunder, 
and after them the Dutch. They were 
traders and wanted to corner the spices 
and pepper, and so they cut down great 
plantations of these trees, which would 
[92] 




India 

Madura. Gopuram — Down the Street 

Madura. Temple Tank or Golden Lilies 



INDIA. LETTER ONE 

raise the price. Then the English organ- 
ized the East India Company and sailed 
into the Dutch in spicy fashion. The 
natives saw that much money was going 
out of their country and so they went to 
war about it, but although they had many 
more soldiers than the English, they had 
not the training and skill, and the Eng- 
lish won the battle almost every time. 
Sir Thomas Roe, one of England's first 
ambassadors to India, won the respect of 
the Great Moguls for he wasn't afraid of 
any of them, and didn't ''Kow tow" to 
them. They borrowed his sword from 
him and kept him with them three years. 
When Charles Second of England married 
Princess Catherine of Portugal, he was 
given the island of Bombay, which be- 
longed to the King of Portugal, as part 
of her dowry. As he didn't have any 
use for it he sold it to the East India Com- 
pany for ten pounds, which shows that 
England didn't steal India. 

Through the leadership of a young 
clerk, Robert Clive, the English were suc- 
cessful in fighting against the combined 
forces of French and Indian, without 
really meaning to gain territory for Eng- 

[95] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

land. When Clive went back to England 
the Indians arose and tried to throw off 
English rule. Fifty thousand men 
marched into Calcutta and attacked the 
English fort there. The president of the 
East India Company and the captains took 
the women and children in their ships 
and sailed away with them, and less than 
two hundred men were left to their fate. 
They were all crowded into a prison house 
only eighteen feet square, with two small 
windows, barred at the top, and kept 
there all night. They didn't have an 
inch to move in, and in the morning only 
twenty-three were alive. This is the 
awful story of the Black Hole of Cal- 
cutta. Clive came back to India in hot 
haste and fought the great battle of 
Plassey, where he lost only twenty-two 
men to six hundred of the Indians, and 
that gave to Britain the whole of Bengal. 
In 1700 a most unfair spirit of trade 
ruled in India; everybody tried to get all 
they could and give as little as possible. 
The poor natives were cheated and mis- 
ery prevailed. Then England sent over 
to India a young man named Warren 
Hastings, who was one of the few saved 
[96] 




India 
Madura. Sacred Tank and Temple 
Benares. Early Morning Ride to See the Ghats 



INDIA, LETTER ONE 

in the Black Hole. A dreadful famine 

had just swept over the land, and he had 

a job on his hands. "Clive by his sword 

won a great empire, Hastings kept it and 

made British rule in India sure." He 

was an honorable man and worked for the 

good of the whole country, but he had 

enemies who were jealous of him, and 

after doing his best for sixteen years, he 

went back to England and was under 

trial seven years for bribery and misrule. 

I suppose every school boy knows 'The 

Defense of Warren Hastings." England 

sent over other men to rule India, who 

made good roads and built railways and 

put up telegraph lines. They had many 

Hindu soldiers in service, whose religion 

didn't allow them to eat meat, and there 

were other ancient customs that they 

didn't want to give up; but they were 

ordered to take off their turbans, cut off 

their hair, leave caste marks off their 

foreheads, and finally they were given a 

new cartridge that was greased on the 

end with lard and had to be bitten off 

before using. Now to a Brahman a pig 

is most unclean, and the soldiers were 

wild. It was just one hundred years 

[99] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

since the Black Hole, when a worse thing 
happened; it is called the Mutiny at 
Delhi. The native soldiers turned against 
the English and killed all they could. 
After a long siege at Lucknow, General 
Havelock came to the rescue. Then 
England decided that the Queen should 
take India in hand and govern it, by love 
if possible, by force if necessary. 

I will end this brief history by telling 
you that when we were in Delhi two weeks 
ago, the Viceroy of India was holding a 
Durbar at the time of making Delhi the 
capital city of northern India, and a 
bomb exploded in the howdah where 
Lord and Lady Hardinge were riding, 
but it didn*t do much damage and the 
procession moved on as if nothing had 
happened. 

History is still making in India. 

Goodbye^ 

BEECH. 



[looj 




Chapter IX. 
INDIA, LETTER TWO. 

AT SEA, 
JANUARY lOTH 

My dear Bradford: 

Of all the people on earth I think 
the natives of India are the most inter- 
esting to study. They are supposed to 
come from the Aryan race as we do. 

[loi] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

They are divided into four castes, but 
nobody knows for certain how this 
started, nor why they so everlastingly 
stick to it. They still have a book of 
their early hymns and prayers called 
Vedas. Brahmanism, w^hich came later, 
was a belief in one universal Spirit which 
enters gods, men and nature. Prose was 
added to the Vedas and called Brah- 
manas. The first caste was the Brah- 
mans or priests, second the warriors, 
called Kshatriya, then the Vaisyas or trad- 
ers and manufacturers, the fourth called 
Sudras, the non- Aryan tribes who had 
been conquered and made slaves. The 
priests held firm control over the country 
and insisted upon the rule of caste be- 
cause it put them at the head. The 
system seemed to work pretty well for 
the first three classes, for they didn't in- 
terfere with each other, but each went on 
with his praying, fighting or manufac- 
turing without jealousy or ambition. 
Now fancy going into a country still ruled 
by such ideas! 

The Mohammedan Turks conquered 
and forced their religion upon the Hindus 
for several hundred years, but they didn't 
[102 J 





India 

Benares. One of Fifty Ghats 

Benares. Priest and Worshipped Gods 



INDIA, LETTER TWO 

accept or acquire anything from them 
except their turbans and some wonderful 
buildings which I shall tell you about 
later, and the Turks were driven out. 
Then the English took possession, and 
that finished the struggle. 

I am going to tell you what we saw in 
Madura, then you can see what ''going 
to church" means in India. There is 
one great temple in that city entered by 
eight high gates or gopurams made of 
mud and covered by a thousand figures 
of Noah's family and heathen mythology. 
We went into the temple at evening. 
We might have been going to a circus. 
There was a great beating of tom-toms 
through the streets of the temple, pro- 
cessions of priests chanting at the top of 
their voices, dancing girls, stray sacred 
white bulls wandering around, and stalls 
on the side where offerings or merchan- 
dise could be bought. As far as we could 
see the inside of the arches was lighted by 
little oil cups, and the floors were lined 
with beggars and holy men who are not 
allowed to work for a living. The men 
were dressed in white cloths and had 
marks of some sort on their foreheads. 
[105] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

At one shrine a young priest in yellow 
robes threw garlands of yellow flowers 
around each one of our necks, but when 
Daddy gave him only a rupee he made 
such a fuss that Daddy tossed his gar- 
land back to him. The next morning, 
by paying fifteen rupees, five dollars, we 
saw all their treasures — there were golden 
calves, bulls, horses, imaginary animals 
and chariots and a Juggernaut car. 
Mother thought the jewels were the most 
wonderful she had ever seen. 

In Benares, the most holy city in India, 
we went first to see the brass ware. One 
street is filled with brass shops, brass gods 
by the thousands, vases, cups, and the 
small water jars which the people carry 
wherever they go — into the fields, on a 
railway journey, or to a temple to wor- 
ship. The women often carry three large 
ones filled with water on their heads. 
Those jars are always kept shining. There 
were also little square flower baskets to 
carry offerings to the temples. I thought 
a collection of Hindu gods would interest 
the folks at home so I bought a few: 
Brahma, who stands for the creator of all 
— he has four heads and arms; Saraswati, 
[io6] 




V v.i.-4.V^V^^^^^^^'^^'^-''^'^'' 



j^^^. <r:^^-;..-i.!i^»r;v,^sM!».,^^f^>''.?;'a,g>y,^< --- 



India 

Fatehpur-Sikri, Akbar's Tomb 

Fatehpur-Sikri. One House in This Empty Town 



INDIA, LETTER TWO 

his wife, who is the goddess of music, 
speech, art and literature; Vishnu, who 
is called the preserver, has one head and 
four arms. He holds a club, a lotus 
flower, a conch shell and a quoit in his 
hands. They say he has been on the 
earth nine times, and is expected the 
tenth. His wife, Lakshmi, sits on a cobra 
or hooded snake, representing eternity, 
and she has a little Brahma in her arms. 

The Hindus have men whom they 
specially honor because of their unusual 
lives. One was called Rama. I have a 
dandy little statue of him. He was a 
model soil and husband. When friends 
meet, it is common for them to salute 
each other by saying, ''Rama, Rama.*' 
He had a faithful serVant who was named 
Hanuman, and a brass god with the head 
of a monkey represents him. When the 
Hindus want help they bring flowers and 
trinkets to him. No one would kill a 
monkey in India, for they are sacred to 
him. 

Krishna was the other teacher who 

came to deliver men from evil — anger, 

and avarice, and his statue is the best of 

all. The figure stands on a serpent, for 

[109] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

when a boy, he killed the serpent Kali 
by holding its tail in one hand and a lotus 
flower in the other. He has two other 
hands, and they are playing a flute. 
Mother told me that the educated Hindus 
call him the "soul of India." If they 
had left out Shiva, the destroyer, and 
Durga the terrible or Kali, as she is 
called, they would have done better. You 
can tell Shiva from the others because he 
wears a tiger skin and carries a noose, a 
trident, an antelope and a drum in his 
four hands. Shiva's son is a fat de\dl with 
an elephant's head. He brings good luck. 
I shall not soon forget the sight we had 
one early morning when we took a boat 
down the sacred river Ganges. Most of 
the rivers of India are sacred, but the 
Ganges is the most sacred of all. On the 
city side are built many "ghats" or land- 
ing places. The banks are high and 
steps and temples are crowded in up to 
the top. We saw thousands of people 
washing their bodies in the most devout 
manner, praying, and drinking the water. 
Many holy men sat cross-legged in little 
cells meditating, trying to think out the 
mystery of life and how they may escape 
[no] 




India 
KuTAB. Our Shejk Guide 



INDIA. LETTER TWO 

coming back to earth into ever so many 
different animals before they can reach 
heaven. We could see the sacred thread 
of cotton, a symbol of their faith, which 
the high class men wear. It is always 
blessed by a Brahman priest. They 
never eat meat or kill animals of any 
kind; they give a lot of money to the 
priests and beggars, and fast and do pen- 
ance, and above all they never touch or 
speak to a low caste person. Their most 
sacred animal is the cow, and they think 
that all are heathen who wear leather 
shoes or eat beef. They won*t even kill 
a mosquito. They eat the simplest vege- 
table food on clean freshly gathered 
leaves, and they wash themselves many 
times a day. The real business of their 
lives seems to be to keep the body clean 
and to pray for enlightenment. With all 
this craze for cleanliness we were sur- 
prised to find in the temples such filth, 
poverty and disease. Everywhere hun- 
dreds of beggars, horrid smells, and Shiva 
and Kali images covered with flowers. 
India is not a land of graves, like China. 
When any one passes on, the body is put 
in cloth or palm leaves and quickly 

I113I 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

burned, and the ashes are thrown into 
the Ganges. We went to one temple de- 
voted to Durga where a goat is sacrificed 
every morning to gain her favor. The 
priests can eat that holy meat. Hun- 
dreds of monkeys run all over the temple, 
and it is anything but clean. 

Perhaps you will remember what I 
wrote you about Buddhism in Japan and 
China. Well it was in Benares that 
Gautama Buddha began to teach his 
ideas about the creation six hundred years 
before Christ and we went to see where 
he lived in a deer park with his five dis- 
ciples. It is called Sarnath, and there is 
an immense unfinished stupa, which is 
like a dagoba, only it hasn't any relics in 
it, but just marks the place of Buddha's 
teaching. There is a tower built by King 
Asoka, who gave the Buddhist religion 
a great start, 272 B. C. But today Bur- 
mah, Ceylon, China and Japan worship 
the calm meditating figure more than 
they do in India. 

I am sure that you will think this is 
enough about false gods. 

Yours lovingly, 

BEECH. 

[114] 




B 



/ 



At 



Chapter X. 
INDIA, LETTER THREE. 

THE RED SEA, 
JANUARY lOTH 

My dear Bradford: 

We liked Agra with its mosques and 
fine buildings and the stories of Akbar 
and Shah Jahan. They were two among 
many Turks who ruled India, and they 

I115I 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

are specially remembered for their talent 
in building. One of the sights today is 
the palace called Fatehpur-Sikri built by 
Akbar who lived there in 1568. There 
are twelve different buildings enclosed by 
a high wall. The pavement is of marble 
and made like a parches! board, and when 
they played the game, slave girls were 
used as checkers. We saw the elephant 
stables, the audience room, and Akbar's 
sleeping rooms, called ^'the palace of 
dreams." The Fort is another one of 
the sights, partly built by Akbar. It is 
a collection of palaces surrounded by 
walls of red sandstone seventy feet high. 
But Shah Jahan outdid all the others 
when he built the wonderful Taj Mahal, 
the tomb of his beloved wife and queen, 
for all the world says that it is most 
chaste, romantic and beautiful. It was 
twenty-two years in building. Mother 
says that it is a sacred symbol of pure 
human love, rare in a land like India, 
where they think women are inferiors. 
I wanted to bring home a little ivory 
model of the Taj, but as it cost $100, I 
decided to get along without it. 

Not only the mosques have domes but 
[ii6] 




India 

Agra. The Famous Taj Mahal 

Taj Mahal's Builder — ^Shah Jahaw 



INDIA, LETTER THREE 

the tombs as well, domes and mosques 
everywhere. At Delhi I enjoyed our ride 
in a rickety little automobile when we 
went to see the Kutal Minar, a big tower 
238 feet high, called ''the tower of vic- 
tory/' Jaipur is a pinkish purple town, 
all the buildings are of that color, and 
it is run by a real Indian Maharaja. It 
reminded us of Canton, for there are 
many shops and everybody busy — print- 
ing cloth with print blocks by hand, 
making enamels and all kinds of art pot- 
tery and brass ware. We had a great 
ride of three miles to Amber on the top 
of a huge elephant, to see the old palace 
of the Maharaja. ''Slow as cold mo- 
lasses" was no name for it. One Hindu, 
sitting on the elephant's head, jabbed 
his thick hide and another walked behind 
punching his legs. We met several par- 
ties coming and going over the hills. I 
must say that I enjoyed every minute of 
it, but Daddy, who had never gone so 
slow in his life before, wanted to get off 
and walk, because he knew he could go 
twice as fast as the elephant. However, 
as it was a piping hot day he concluded 
he would at least be cooler where he was. 
[119] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

Our next novel ride was in a Tonka, a 
wagon with two seats back to back, up 
Mount Abu, eighteen miles into the sky. 
I imagined myself in a Roman chariot. 
We changed horses every two or four 
miles and rattled on at reckless speed. 
Our driver and footman wore great yel- 
low turbans, and how the dust did fly! 
And what do you think? When we 
reached the top of that mountain, I 
found we had come all this way to see a 
Jain temple. Then we all had to learn 
something about the Jains. They are 
the strictest sect of all the Hindu people, 
and despise the others. They build their 
temples together in high places. They 
love animals alive, not cooked, and would 
not kill the tiniest creature. They even 
loved them better than their fellow men. 
I saw some beautiful pigeon roosts they 
made in one city with marble columns 
and much decorated walls. But I re- 
member better the glorious ride down the 
hill. 

The Sikhs are a fine class of Indian 
men who do not believe in caste, do not 
worship idols nor drink or smoke, and 
they are loyal English subjects. They 

[ I20 I 






i 



INDIA. LETTER THREE 

have no leader, but a book which guides 
them, but we saw no temple belonging to 
them. 

At Bombay we stopped at a Parsee 
hotel, a grand one too, so clean and such 
good food. Zoroaster is their teacher, 
and they seem to put their religion into 
practice. They are very clean, very de- 
vout, and honest in business. Two firms 
actually refunded money to us when they 
had made a mistake in the reckoning. 

Goodbye, and now for Egypt, yours, 

BEECH. 



[1^31 










,^'L. 



Chapter XI. 
EGYPT, LETTER ONE. 

ON THE MEDITERRANEAN, 
FEBRUARY I2TH 

My dear Bradford: 

1 HAVE been in Egypt just four weeks, 
enjoying donkey rides over the desert, 
seeing great heaps of stones called pyra- 
mids, going up the Nile in the finest little 



EGYPT. LETTER ONE 

Steamers, getting off to see old, old tem- 
ples with their walls covered with pic- 
tures cut in the rocks, of gods, goddesses, 
kings, bulls and all sorts of animals; 
going down into deep, deep tombs carry- 
ing a candle which dripped the tallow all 
over your clothes while you looked at the 
brilliantly colored pictures of what they 
thought would happen after they left 
this world. As far as I could make out, 
they had to go boat riding with a jackal, 
and stand, when they landed, before a 
great god and have their souls weighed 
by a dog-headed ape against a feather, 
and then "good-bye, John, if you have a 
heavy heart." 

We rode on a "ship of the desert'' as a 
camel is called, and saw Nubians in their 
native huts. We saw the great Rock 
Temple at Abu Simbel that Rameses the 
second built to glorify himself as God. 
Would you believe it, a little stone wife 
and the daughter who took Moses out 
of the bulrushes were right beside his 
great toe. All the Egyptian Kings were 
called Pharaohs, you know, but he was 
the one who made life a burden for the 
Israelites. We even saw the great treas- 
[127] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

ure houses he built. Half of the temples 
in Egypt today are decorated with his 
seal or cartouche, and we found pieces 
of his great stone images spread over the 
plains. He wanted to live forever (as 
of course we all do), but he didn't want 
to be forgotten on this earth, and he has 
his wish, for I saw his very face in a 
mummy case in the Cairo Museum where 
thousands of Cook's tourists gaze at him 
every year, but I can't see that it helps 
him any, wherever he is. 

If I wanted to write you a real true 
story of Egypt, I would have to go dig- 
ging with the rest of the explorers and find 
a stone tablet covered with carvings of 
birds, crooked sticks, bugs and snakes, 
called hieroglyphics, which some learned 
man would decipher for me, that would 
tell just exactly a few definite things 
about the far-away past. Then other 
tablets must be found settling all points 
where historians differ; after that I would 
have to cram myself with the history of 
Ethipoia, Persia, Macedonia, Greece, 
Rome, Arabia, Turkey, France, and Eng- 
land, for all of them have had a big finger 
in the pie of Egypt, but the only nation 

( 128 I 




Egypt 

Denderah. Ibrahim Giving a Call to Show Us Cleopatra On 

THE Wali, 



EGYPT. LETTER ONE 

that has succeeded in keeping it, is 
England, and she didn't really want the 
bother of looking after it. "And still the 
original Egyptian type of 6000 years ago 
works his little water mills at the side of 
his beloved river, rides on the haunches 
of his little donkey, raises wheat and 
sugar cane just as he did when Abraham 
visited this beautiful lily and papyrus 
land." He now wears his crown of the 
upper and lower Egypt in the shape of a 
Turkish fez or a Mohammedan turban, 
and is governed by a Christian nation. 

You would be surprised to find that 
the weather is not a topic of conversa- 
tion; it is always sunny and bright, cold 
in the morning and at night. The Nile 
makes Egypt. Their year is divided into 
four months of sowing, four months of 
growing, and four months for overflow- 
ing. Father showed me at Assouan, where 
we rode on little tram cars, how English 
engineers had built this great reservoir to 
hold back the Nile from being wasteful. 

When I promised to write you easy 
history and geography, I didn't realize 
that it would be easy only for you. I 
have to read and study a lot, and it seems 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

to me that each country gets harder. 
'*\\liere in the world is one to find the 
wTitten history of this oldest civilization 
in the known world?" I asked mother. 
She said that historians regarded the 
Bible as most valuable help, and that the 
stone tablets found ia the temple at 
Sakara and Abydos contained lists of 
kings and the years of their reign, and 
that a priest named Manetho, about 250 
B. C. wrote a history and divided the list 
of kings from Menes to Alexander the 
Great into thirty-one dynasties or reigns 
of different royal houses; so as I couldn't 
get Manethos' histor>^ I studied up 
Baedeker and the Bible for your benefit. 

Before starting to introduce the most 
noted of Egyptian kings to you, I must 
tell you something of their beliefs and 
customs. They were great believers in a 
Supreme power that expected them to do 
the right thing towards their fellow man, 
and who commanded their worship and 
gifts. They found chapters of a sacred 
book in some mysterious way at different 
times that told them about the future. It 
was called by translators 'The book of the 
dead," but it meant to them, ''coming 

[13^1 



EGYPT, LETTER ONE 



forth by day." They believed that many 
of the things they saw about them, the 
animals, plants, sun, were sacred. They 
always had a trinity — Father, Mother 
and Son, in their religion, but in different 
parts of the country had different names 
for them. Almost the only myth they 
based their hopes of eternal life on was 
their tradition of Osiris. It is some- 
thing like this: Once upon a time, God, 
who had many names, decided to rule the 
lower sphere of earth so he appeared as 
four different kings. At first, their Osiris, 
the son of Seb and Nut (Father- Mother 
God) took the throne and became king 
of upper and lower Egypt. He was so 
good a king and loved his people so well 
that he aroused envy in the heart of Set, 
a spirit of evil, who killed him and put 
his body in a coffin and threw it in the 
Nile. Isis, his wife, wild with grief, 
searched for the coffin; at last when she 
found it and was taking it to Memphis 
to have the body mummified, Set stole 
it from her and cut it up in fourteen pieces 
which he hid in different places. The 
sad wife searched Egypt over until she 
found them and buried them together. 

[135 1 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

She called upon Horus to avenge his 
father, so Horus had a fierce fight with 
Set. Osiris returned from the "Elysian 
Fields," as they called the unknown hea- 
venly state, and encouraged Horus to fight 
on until he killed Set, the spirit of evil. 
The resurrection of Osiris was the 
strongest belief they had, and it was the 
foundation of their religion. Osiris, Iris 
and Horos form a most loved trinity. 
As they had over eighty-seven different 
names for God, and as each name was 
also associated with an animal, I won*t 
try to give you a list. Ptah was wor- 
shipped at Memphis in the first century. 
He was called the father of all gods, and 
it was thought that all the other gods 
came from his eye, and mankind from his 
mouth. I speak especially of him be- 
cause he was the first represented on the 
walls of the temples as holding the sceptre 
made of the key of life, strength and sta- 
bility. That sceptre and its different 
signs separately is seen by the hundreds 
in all the temples and all gods hold the 
sceptre. The impression one gains of the 
ruling thought of Egyptian kings is that 
they wanted to have eternal life, enduring 
[136 J 




Egypt 
EsNEH. Ibrahim Showinq Orr By a CuRtKw Towek 



EGYPT. LETTER ONE 



strength, and stability of character, from 
their gods. The business of Hfe with the 
kings of Egypt seemed to be to prepare 
tombs, first for themselves, then their 
wives and sacred animals, and in such 
deep and hidden places that they could 
never be found ; then to build temples and 
obelisks to their god. Egypt is full of 
them. Today at Karnak, Abydos, and 
on each side of the Nile, they show such 
wonderful knowledge of architecture and 
beauty that the globe-trotters from all 
countries crowd their avenues with delight. 
The kings generally had four or five 
names written in two cartouches. We see 
their cartouches cut by the thousand on 
the pillars and walls of their temples and 
on scarabs. We hear so much about 
scarabs in Egypt and so many are offered 
for sale that I was curious to find out 
what they were. Our dragoman said that 
they were made out of stone pottery or 
glass in the shape of beetles, and that they 
were used by all royalty who had their 
cartouches put on the under side, and that 
they were used as gifts and jewelry and to 
put on their mummies. "Well, why did 
they choose the beetle," I asked. "Be- 

[139I 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

cause a beetle is always a female/* he said, 
**and they think it gets its life from God, 
so it is a type of eternal life.*' Father 
bought a fine royal one, not imitation. 

Their belief in the resurrection of the 
body led to the mummifying of their dead 
and enclosing them in many beautiful 
caskets. I got tired of seeing them in the 
museums. They used to put lots of 
scarabs on them and jewelry^ and vases, 
and as years went on robbers used to hunt 
them out for their treasures. Now a lot 
of people from different countries are dig- 
ging up whole regions and shoveling sand 
by the year in hopes of finding more mum- 
mies and scarabs. By reading a book 
called *The Queens of Egy^pt,'' I learned 
that woman's rights were in full force in 
all Egyptian dynasties; that they were 
thought to possess "solar life," and that 
many kings kept their thrones only be- 
cause they had a royal princess for a 
wife. They had a queer custom of marry- 
ing their own sisters. 

Today there are no queenly figures to 

be seen. The women all dress in black 

and wear veils over their faces, and drag 

their long black skirts in the dust. They 

[140 J 



EGYPT. LETTER ONE 

never seem to have any fun. They fear 
to wash their children's faces, or drive the 
flies off from trying to do it, because it 
might bring an evil eye upon them. Like 
China and India it seems a country made 
by men for men. I'm prouder than ever 
of my own country, for our mothers and 
sisters have a freer time of it than any 
country I've seen yet. 

In order to understand myself, as well 
as to teach you, of the most important 
times and the people that made them im- 
portant, I am going to make believe that 
Egypt is a mystic pyramid of thought- 
steps and that I am looking at it through 
a telescope of time with the lens of history 
at its different stages. As this thought 
pyramid dates 6000 B. C. and had thirty- 
two dynasties, it would be beyond my 
power to make it readable, but as only 
about nine of the dynasties were notable, 
I will try it. 

6000 B. C. 

A period of mythology when kings 
were gods and demigods. 

First Dynasty, 4400 B. C. 

Away almost out of sight and of 
[143J 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

any one's memory, King Menes sits on 
high, for he was the first named king, and 
wore the crowns of both upper and lower 
Eg>'pt. He built a strong city on the 
site of Memphis. 

Second Dynasty, 4 133 B. C. 

The first king named Besh who wrote 
his name in a circle and started the idea of 
cartouches, is just visible. I forgot to tell 
you that a cartouche is a sort of a mono- 
gram made of animals and many marks. 

Third to Seventh Dynasty, 3133 B. C. 

I see pyramids arising all over Egypt — 
thoughts of perfection of form, endur- 
ance, of substance, and labor for the safety 
of their future lives, for all but the great 
pyramid were tombs to protect the 
mummies of their kings and queens. 

Seventh to Eighteenth Dynasty, 1600 B.C. 

During these obscure centuries, when a 
cloud seems to have settled down, I see 
a strange procession — shepherds and 
flocks — crowds and crowds filling Egypt 
without opposition or war. They elect 
their own kings, called the Hyksos or 
Shepherd kings. The temples of the 
Egyptians are closed, and the great pyra- 
I144] 



EGYPT, LETTER ONE 

mid of Gizeh is rising on high — the most 
wonderful temple ever built in this world. 
It is a witness in stone of the understand- 
ing of one who knew the past, present and 
future. "As we understand more of the 
truth," mother says, 'Ve will learn great 
lessons from its arrangement, lines and 
measurements.*' They ruled during the 
fifteenth and sixteenth dynasties, and 
then left quietly. Some think Methuse- 
lah or Job lived then. 

Eighteenth Dynasty, 1600 B. C. 

Here come into view on a plane much 
nearer, wonderful temple buildings. We 
can see them with the naked eye, but the 
people who built them are not there, tho' 
many of their mummified bodies are the 
rich treasures of the Cairo museum. For 
the first time we see a strong, beautiful 
woman on the throne of Egypt, Queen 
Hatshepsut. She is domineering and rules 
her relatives as well as her people. I was 
not able to find out whether Tethmosis the 
Third who ruled after her, was her brother, 
husband or stepson, but he seems to wish 
to claim her glory for the future, and has 
obliterated many of her cartouches from 
the temples and put his own instead ; but 

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FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

the men employed to do this work were 
careless and we can see the truth under- 
neath the fraudulent hieroglyphics. 
Doesn^t that sound learned? 

Tethmosis III was Egypt*s greatest war- 
ior. He has captives and spoils galore in 
his train. The skill of the Egyptian 
artists and engineers at this time is shown 
now to the inhabitants of Rome, Con- 
stantinople, London and New York, by 
the wonderful obelisks they made, that 
have been taken to those cities. 

Next Amenophis III appears on the 
scene with his graceful wife Thy. His 
love and devotion to her is displayed on 
rock-hewn tablets for all the world to see. 
He has the famous statues of Memnon 
made, that head an avenue of colossal 
figures to his temple, yet she is beside 
him even there. As a warrior and as a 
builder he is great, but as a devoted hus- 
band he is in that age unique. Amen- 
ophis III, fearing the control of the priests 
of Ammon, comes to view with a wonderful 
sun disk in his hand, and commands the 
people of Egypt to worship only one god. 
He is called the heretic king, and after his 
reign they go back to their former gods. 
[ 148 J 



EGYPT, LETTER ONE 

I see many Israelites laboring in Egypt 
at this time. 

Nineteenth Dynasty, 1400 B. C. 

I see a great king, Seti, building a magni- 
ficent temple at Abydos — a stone book of 
history where he is teaching his young son 
Rameses to do homage to his seventy-six 
ancestors whose names are cut in the rock 
tablet. He is a man of artistic taste and 
has the best artists employed to decorate 
his temple with lasting beauty. I see his 
young son, Rameses II, filled with thoughts 
of daring achievements such as have never 
been thought of before. He is the Phar- 
aoh of the Bible who opposes the Egyp- 
tians; his vast treasure houses can be seen 
without the telescope now. His wonder- 
ful rock temples are at Abu Simbel. His 
colossal statues still fill Egypt. His name 
is on more than half the temples, but he is 
beginning to glorify himself, to perpetuate 
his own name, to declare his own glory; 
but he also honors his beloved wife, Nefi- 
tari, and builds a rock temple for her with 
four large statues of himself and two 
small ones of her in front of it. After his 
glorious reign of sixty-seven years, he is 
called, like Tethmosis III, 'The Great.'' 

[151 1 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

Minepath, the Pharaoh who drove the 
Israelites out of Egypt, according to 
history, as well as the Bible, runs his brief 
course around the pyramid of Egypt, and 
his hosts sink in the Red Sea. 

Twentieth Dynasty, 1200 B. C. 

I see what is called the new empire 
dawning on Egypt. Twelve Rameses, 
one after another, on the throne, the only 
great one appears to be Rameses III, who 
builds temples showing his wonderful ex- 
ploits at fighting, shooting and training 
his horses and soldiers, on their walls. 

Twenty-sixth Dynasty, 1090-525 B. C. 

Of all the kings that succeeded the 
Ramacides, the figure of King Amasis 
appears most clearly, not on account of 
his virtues, but of his deception. Cam- 
byses, the king of Persia, sends for a wife 
from the family of the king of Egypt. 
Amasis sends a young princess, Netites, 
whose right he has taken away, as his own 
daughter, to the suppliant. Netites took 
vengeance on her enemy and revealed to 
Cambyses the fraud. Whereupon a lively 
war followed and proud Egypt was hum- 
bled to the dust, her rule destroyed, and 
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EGYPT, LETTER ONE 

her glory as an Egyptian nation forever 
diminished. 

That will do for this time. Yours y 

BEECH. 

Postscript: This letter was worse than 
a composition. I had to read so much 
that it sounds awfully *'grown up." If 
you ever come here it will save you a lot 
of study if you bring the * 'essay*' along. 



[155I 




Chapter XII. 
EGYPT, LETTER TWO. 

FEBRUARY IJTH 

My dear Bradford: 

jN ow don't think that everything that I 
have written you about Egypt is gospel 
truth. The Egyptologists differ a cen- 
tury or two in their conclusions and so I 
[156I 



.r-^^" >: 



> n 




EGYPT, LETTER TWO 

may be a little off in some things. I am 
only writing you my thought about it, 
gained from what I have read and what 
mother has told me about their different 
decisions. 

Well, any way the glory of Egypt as 
a nation passed in 525' and the sands of 
the desert filled their tombs and buried 
their many temples. 

Persian Rule. 

The Persians conquered the whole 
country by a large army led by Cambyses, 
(read the prophecy of Ezekiel, 30: 3-18) 
and the destruction he wrought is seen 
especially in the temple of Rameses III at 
Medinet Habu. He tore from the tomb 
mummies of the kings, he stabbed the 
sacred bull at Memphis and made fun of 
all their sacred objects. So Herodotus, 
the father of history says, and he adds 
that, afterward, he thought it wiser tb join 
with their ideas and took a throne name 
and doubtless had a cartouche and re- 
stored some of the temples. Then Dar- 
ius, Xerxes, Artaxerxes, came in order and 
called themselves kings of Egypt and 
joined in with the inhabitants in their 
superstitious worship. They had often to 

I159I 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

fight them, however, to keep them down. 
In the last revolt against Persian power 
the Egyptians called upon the Greeks to 
help them; they cheerfully agreed and 
were thoroughly beaten. For many years 
Egyptian kings and Peirsian kings played 
a lively game of human chess, and some 
times one side, and some times the other 
would win and rule. 

Alexander the Great, from Macedonia, 
jumps into the game in quite an unex- 
pected manner and sweeps off the board. 
He built up the great city of Alexandria 
and founded its most famous library, but 
got a dose of poison for his pains. 

Greek Rule. 

The wonderful reigns of the Ptolemy and 
Cleopatras, as their queens were called, 
lasted 300 years. There were sixteen of 
them, and they pretended that they were 
descended from the Egyptian gods, and 
the people believed them. They built 
temples and had their cartouches like the 
kings of old. When you get old enough 
to read Shakespeare and understand it 
you will see in his play ''Antony and Cleo- 
patra*' how they lost control, and how 
Rome got control of Egypt. 
[i6o] 



EGYPT, LETTER TWO 

Roman Rule. 

There were thirty-seven Roman rulers 
and they reigned nearly 400 years. Au- 
gustus Caesar gained full control of Egypt 
B. C. 30. He was ruler there when Jesus 
was born in Bethlehem. So you see why 
the Bible tells so much about Egypt. We 
were shown the places where Mary and 
Joseph with their little babe rested and 
the wells they drank from, during the 
flight into Egypt. 

During the reign of Nero, Christianity 
was first preached in Egypt by St. Mark. 
No wonder it spread rapidly for the early 
Christians healed diseases, and taught the 
people of one universal God who loved 
them and wanted them to love one an- 
another. It was through Egypt that 
Christianity reached Rome. 

Through all the discussions of the Holy 
Fathers, and the laws against Christianity 
made by the Romans, one little flock has 
stood firm to the word of God as preached 
by St. Mark, all this time. They are 
called Copts, and they have always been 
persecuted. They made churches out of the 
old temples, and in one I saw a painting of 
our Lord on the wall amid all the heathen 
[163] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

gods and their symbols. There are about 
68,000 Copts in Egypt today, and they 
are the brightest of all Egyptians. They 
have schools in the cities and villages for 
both boys and girls, and we saw an old 
man sitting cross-legged in the sun teach- 
ing the little dirty-faced children squat- 
ing around him to read from our Bible. 

When Constantine took up Christianity 
to help his political career, the great busi- 
ness of life seemed to be deciding what 
Christianity should preach as truth, and 
what the people should be taught to be- 
lieve. They must have made a mistake, 
for it hasn't carried out very well the 
teaching Jesus gave. When you study 
Roman history you will see that Constan- 
tine went to Constantinople, and so can- 
not be surprised to hear that in some way 
or other, bishops got control of Egypt, 
and during the period called the Byzan- 
tine, eight bishops ruled and quarreled 
until the Arabs, who believe in Moham- 
met, put them out. 

Now I must tell you a little about this 

religion that has more followers than any 

other in the world today. (Daddy says 

that isn't so, but I read it somewhere.) 

[164I 




Egypt 

Ghizeh. Mysterious But Very Plain 

Statues or Memnon. This is the Sight of Old Thebes 



EGYPT. LETTER TWO 

Mohammet was born at Mecca, 569 B. C. 
and he was forty years old when he felt 
that he was called by God to reform the 
religion of the Arabs. He believed in the 
first five chapters of the Bible that Moses 
wrote, the psalms and the gospels, but 
considered himself a greater prophet than 
Jesus. He wrote a book called the Koran 
and all good Mohammedans study it and 
obey its rules. Their churches are called 
mosques, and the towers, minarets. Five 
times a day a man walks around the bal- 
cony calling the faithful to prayer. I tell 
you it gives one quite a start to see men 
who are not ashamed of their religion, 
kneeling down anywhere, praying to God. 
They never drink liquor and they fast 
often, but the weak place in that religion 
is the way it thinks of women; they are 
shut up in harems and can only go on the 
street if their faces are veiled, and they 
have to share a husband with three others. 
That religion seems made for men alone. 
The Arabs ruled Egypt for nearly a 
thousand years, when the last Caliph be- 
queathed his right and titles to the Sultan 
of Turkey. Turkish rule brought the red 
fez to Egypt which is so becoming to men; 
[167] 



FAR COUNTRIES AS SEEN BY A BOY 

They wear it at the opera, at dinner, in 
fact all the time. 

Now we are coming down to things of 
which we have all seen pictures. Napo- 
leon pounced upon Egypt in 1798 hoping 
to destroy British trade in the Mediter- 
ranean. He fought a battle by the pyra- 
mids, but the British Lion was on his track 
and just as it happened in China and 
India, England found at last that she had 
to take control of Egypt for its own good. 
They had to teach the people how to take 
care of their money, and how to be law- 
abiding. They built the great dam at 
Assouan, and have established banks and 
schools. They may bring to Egypt a 
better understanding of God, and the poor 
women may find that they have as many 
rights as the men, a place on earth and in 
heaven too. 

And now good-bye, for this is my last 
letter, and I hope I won't have to write 
another for a year. 

Your loving cousin, 

BEECH. 



[168I 




Egypt 
Our Steamer Prince Abbus — On to Earxs. Good-Bye 



Here End the Letters from Beech to His 

Chum, Written While Touring the Orient, 

AND Illustrated from Photographs Taken 

En Route. Printed for the Enjoyment of 

Other Boys, and Girls, Too, by Paul Elder 

AND Company, and Conducted Through Their 

ToMOYE Press by Herman A. Funke, In the 

City of San Francisco During the 

Month of October, Nineteen Sixteen 



